Interesting animal facts about pandas

Interesting Animal Facts About Pandas

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Last Updated on December 27, 2021 by

Pandas are astonishing animals. They can do all sorts of things! They have incredible abilities and are truly iconic around the world. This is why learning facts about pandas is so important because if you don’t know facts about pandas you can’t help them as we all should do.

Pandas, you see, can often be endangered. This is for several reasons.

Firstly, their habitat is sadly being viciously destroyed. Pandas need bamboo to survive and quiet, safe forests to live in.

These habitats are sadly being destroyed for the purposes of farming and using the natural resources for the local communities meaning that the Panda isn’t able to survive.

Equally problematic is that pandas do not reproduce in great numbers. This, therefore, has had an impact on the worldwide population because of their habitats being destroyed, pandas are not able to have a safe natural environment to eat, breed, and raise their young. This means that pandas are around the world facing extinction.

This is of course not only a predicament that faces pandas but other animals as well. This is why you need to know as many incredible facts about pandas in order to help spread as much awareness about how special pandas are and why they need our love and continual protection.

Top 15 Interesting Facts About Pandas

1. Their fur isn’t just cute – it helps them camouflage!

Pandas are known around the world for their cute fur. The image of a black and white panda is unmistakable to children and adults alike. However, it isn’t just something that makes the animals look cute, it actually helps them hide in the tree and snow too!

The white fur helps the panda hide in the snow and their black legs and head allow them to be almost invisible in the forest.

2. They have incredibly flexible paws!

Pandas aren’t they other bears. Most bears use their paws to walk on, climb trees, or defend themselves.

Pandas are different, however. This is because a panda’s paw has an extended wrist bone in it which gives their paws the ability to grip things, just like if they had a thumb! This gives the panda an advantage in the wild and allows it to eat its favorite snack, bamboo, very easily.

interesting panda facts

3. They like to eat as well!

Most mammals like to eat, and pandas are no exception. They like to chomp on food just like any other bear, but did you know that a panda can spend up to 16 hours a day eating food!

The next time you feel like a bit of a pig for eating too much and for too long, just think about how long pandas eat their food!

4. They like to mark their territory in an unusual way

We all know that animals like to mark their territory, but did you know that pandas have a particularly innovative way of doing so?

Apparently, when pandas want to mark a spot that they believe is there’s they can do a handstand whilst peeing! Truly incredible stuff that shows why pandas are such amazing animals. There are few other creatures that would go to such lengths to mark their territory.

5. It isn’t just weeing that they do a lot of

Thanks to the amount of time that they spend eating, you can imagine that pandas also spend a lot of time pooing. It is estimated that pandas spend several hours pooing a day.

The average panda is believed to poo forty times a day, something that must certainly put some of their neighbors off their food.

6. Pandas don’t hibernate

Given that pandas are members of the bear family, you might find it odd that they do not do something that most bears do – they don’t hibernate! This is because, unlike other species of bear, pandas don’t have the capacity for storing energy over a long period of time unlike other types of bears.

This is the reason that they spend so long eating because they need the constant flow of food in order to keep themselves upright and active.

7. Pandas have been around for a very long time

Pandas might not seem like the most ancient of species, but in fact, they have existed on this planet for a very long time.

This has been confirmed by scientists who, working in China, have discovered the fossilized remains of pandas dating back over a million years! However, unlike humans, pandas haven’t changed that much or evolved a great deal in that time.

8. Pandas have very, very long years

You may have heard that dogs and cats have years that don’t follow human years. A year for a human means something different to a cat or dog. Well, amazingly, the same thing applies to a panda!

Unlike humans, a year for a panda is equivalent to three years for a human! This is because of the differences in life expectancy and because of how pandas view time.

In fact, the oldest ever recorded Panda, whilst only living for 38 human years, lived a whopping 115 panda years!

9. Pandas can use their wrists in amazing ways

Most humans are able to use their thumbs to grip things and therefore make tools in order to eat. It is one of the things that is used to distinguish humans from animals. However, it isn’t only humans who can use their hands to make tools – pandas can as well.

You might be confused by this – surely as pandas are a type of bear, they haven’t got thumbs and so can’t grip. However, pandas have got an incredible extending wrist bone which means that they can, in fact, grip just like humans which helps them to eat bamboo.

10. Pandas like to be left alone.

Whilst many other animals like to hunt in a pack or herd, the panda prefers to be a solitary animal. This is partly because bamboo, its main source of energy and food, doesn’t require the panda to go very far or need the help of other animals.

In fact, pandas usually occupy a solitary three square mile area of the jungle when they reach maturity.

11. Pandas once ate meat

Interesting animal facts about pandas

As mentioned earlier in this piece, pandas at one time ate meat. This was during the time that saber-tooth tigers still roamed the earth and were dangerous predators which competed with the panda for resources.

However, once the saber-toothed tiger and other like-minded predators died out, the panda found that they also had to adapt in order to survive which is how they become bamboo eaters. However, even today pandas retain their canine teeth and can eat fruit and meat if they so wish, though they usually stick to bamboo.

12. They very rarely mate

One of the reasons that pandas have become a much rarer animal is due to the loss of habitat. Another is due to poaching. However, the panda’s survival is not helped by the fact that they very rarely mate.
In fact, pandas on average only ever mate over a three-day period during March to May. A panda’s pregnancy then lasts about five months.

This of course means that it is difficult for new generations of pandas to take over from those that have come before them because of their lack of mating appetite.

13. There are only two species of pandas

Unlike other types of bears, of which there are many different species, there are in fact only two species of panda. They are the Sichuan giant panda and the Qinling giant panda.

Of course, ironically, neither are “giant” as such – they are both the same size but giant is used as a nickname for all pandas as they are bigger than most other types of bears.

14. Despite where they live, they may have originally come from Europe

Although it might seem strange to us, given that pandas are so often associated with China and Asia, scientists believe that the panda first evolved in Europe rather than the far east.

This is thanks to scientists working in Hungary who believe that they have found the distant ancestor of the panda once roamed the wild expanses of Europe some ten million years ago. It is thought that the panda migrated from Europe to China some million years ago and has been there ever since.

15. They have a royal connection

Pandas have always had an attraction for human beings and royal Chinese emperors are no different.

In fact, the panda is believed to have roamed the imperial gardens of the Han dynasty emperor some several hundred years ago. The reason is that pandas are associated with the mystic arts and are therefore believed to have special powers, which is why the Chinese emperors were always keen to have them on hand!

Final Thoughts

This article has helped to outline some of the amazing facts about pandas. But it only touches the surface of how interesting and incredible pandas are.

They are an amazing species and one that deserves to be protected and loved as much as possible.

Pandas aren’t going to be here forever unless we do our best to ensure that everyone realizes just how special they are and why they need to be protected at all costs.

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